First anniversary feelings <3

Captured in a hilarious photo

I think I’ve found a photo that captures how freaking much I love being married to Adam.

A bit of context first: I love cute cakes. I love to eat them, make them, and especially decorate them. I’ll bet you 90 percent of my pins on Pinterest are cute cakes or cake tutorials. Forget quality time or physical touch—cake is my love language.  

Knowing this, Adam went above and beyond for my birthday cake last year. I was forbidden from entering our tiny kitchen for hours as he worked on what turned out to be a masterpiece. We invited my family over for dinner, and after we’d finished eating, Adam brought out the cake. 

And as you will see in this train of photos, I lost my mind.

Hiding my face because I was too excited to look.

When I first caught sight of the cake.

My totally delighted face as I took in the cake. This photo also just about captures how happy and excited I am about being married to Adam.

Three layers. Batter from scratch. Frosting with fresh strawberries. Chocolate ganache. The piping and berries on top. What could possibly say “I love you” in a sweeter way?

The cake, ft. Grandma Abel

It truly was as delicious as it looks.

I was totally surprised by how complex and beautiful the cake was. I will devour a box-mix cake with frosting from a jar faster than you can say sprinkle, but Adam’s hard work made this cake so much more special. And if I could sum up how this year has felt in a word it might be that—special. Everything about our relationship feels way more special than it did before we were married. And with every month that special feeling only grows. (As does my sprinkle collection.)

And I think I know why: things change in a beautiful way when you really commit. I’ve shared the following quote from Scottish explorer W.H. Murray before, but only in the past year have I seen how true it is to marriage:

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

“‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’”

Marriage to Adam is so much sweeter and happier than I “could have dreamt would come my way.” The feeling of total commitment has brought a closeness I didn’t know existed. And I can’t get enough. I am far more crazy about Adam now than I was last May 5.

Before we were engaged, Adam was given a new assignment at church and subsequently ordained a high priest. As part of that ordination, his Grandpa Ed laid his hands on Adam’s head and blessed him. I was in the room for that blessing, and Grandpa Ed said something that pretty much made my heart burst with joy.

He blessed Adam that he would marry in the temple to a woman “whom you have already selected.” Now, mind you, this was before we were officially engaged. We’d been ring shopping and things were about as serious as they could be in dating, but my little anxious brain liked to remind me that things weren’t “for sure for sure.” Ya know?

So my heart was so reassured to hear, in the capacity of a priesthood blessing, that Adam had selected me, and I knew I had selected him. At that moment, Heavenly Father was telling me that He didn’t need us to announce our engagement; He could look in our hearts and see that the choice was made. And I could sense that He was going to help us honor that choice.

Leading up to our wedding, I was so moved by the joy and power of commitment that I centered my marriage vows around the idea. Here is what I said:

Adam, because I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Because I love God and Christ and want them to walk with us, I married you in God’s temple today. I know we have a lot to learn about life and love, but from what I know now, I think the biggest promise I can offer you is to promise to choose you forever. I promise that my choice to love you and be by your side will be one consciously, happily I make everyday. I choose to support you, laugh with you, cry with you, celebrate your joys, and be close to your sorrow. I choose to treat you, treat us, like something special because I want this to last forever. 

With all my heart, I choose to be your wife and I promise to never stop being thrilled that you chose me. I am the luckiest girl in the world. I love you and I promise to make that abundantly, perhaps even annoyingly, obvious for the rest of this life and through the life I believe follows this one. Thank you for making my fondest dreams come true.

Finalizing our choice through marriage has made our love deeper and more special than I could have “dreamt would have come my way.” I loved getting a new driver’s license and social security card with my new last name because it was a little bit like choosing Adam again and again—and that is my favorite thing to do.

Adam, of all the wonderful things in life, you really take the cake. For ever and ever I promise you symbolically (and probably also literally), all the batter from scratch, frosting with fresh strawberries, and chocolate ganache you can eat.

Our wedding cake.

A mini wedding cake we ordered for our anniversary <3